Week 9: Bees

This post is for the week of August 15th. I had children only Monday through Wednesday. Thursday and Friday little Curt and I got a chance to be just we. But Monday through Wednesday there were a total of five children each day:
K a 6 yr old girl,
M a 2 year old girl
R a 3 yr old girl
H a 3 yr old girl
And
Curtis a 5 11/12 yr old boy.

The Summer storms continued this week. Monday morning there was a huge storm, but by the time R and M arrived the rain had subsided. K and H joined us and we went to Kitchen's Lane. Instead of going down to the water as it was cool and wet already, we hiked upwards to the place "where the couch was." If one hikes up the hill from the footbridge and then immediate,y up hill again and turns to the right, one would have found an old IKEA couch up to a year ago. This place is accessible by hikers or bikers, and seems to be a clearing where younger folk would hang out on the couch and have fires and drink, etc. Then last year, the couch disappeared. I like hiking up there...it feels like a mysterious spot, a hidden place. There is also a big quarry like pit. There are many saplings up there and mushrooms. I spread all our raincoats on a log and we had our snack. There were also many acorn cap spottings and the collection of many interesting leaves. K liked it up on that hidden hill. She started to make a clubhouse out of sticks, but the younger girls were kind of unsure what to do. Curtis had not yet joined us so he was not there to lead play.

The next day was very challenging. There was another impending storm and I believe it affected everyone's mood. Getting to Carpenter's Woods and getting rained out didn't help much either. The day before I had brought all the rain gear with us and this day I had left it all at home. Note to self: bring a folded tarp in my outing bag! Gosh, by the end of the day, even Curtis and K were at each other, and those two are usually very good playmates together. The highlight of the day, was M running all the way from the bathroom with a potty she had filled with poop. She had pooped on the potty. She has been working on her toilet-ing and was so happy to show me.

Wednesday, all the same children were together, but it was a glorious day. We went again to Carpenter's Woods which was so fresh and clean after the huge torrential rain...I think Philadelphia will set a record for most rainfall in August soon. R asked for a story, and I said I would tell Snow white while theynplayed with the mud at the stream. R, M and H all played happily with the mud. H enjoyed talking with her "friends" the small green plants on the stream bank. M needed to poop but was Leary of going in the woods. So I just stripped off her clothes and let her be. Eventually, she squatted in some bushes and di what came natural. She was very pleased with her self. All the girls were able to water the plants well. Heidi would water them, but not the ones that were her special friends on the stream bank. Meanwhile, K and Curtis were enjoying the freedom of being able to walk down the stream bed a little way and find treasures on their own.
Carpenter's Woods:
In the mornings and afternoons this week, we did lots of wet-on-wet paint. The paintings were lovely. Lots of red, dark yellow, light yellow. It really feels like the heavy end of late summer.
Painting: Summer nature corner: K and Curtis make a cafe: Let's all be bunnies: Let's make an Invention:
Thursday and Friday, Curt and I were able to explore the Wissahickon trails at our leisure. I like having the other children around for Curt to play with, but sometimes, it is nice to just be the two of us. I know his limits, and we are able to travel farther distances and mange steeper cliffs than the little ones. I actually feel like I get my exercise as well during our outings! We hiked back up to "where the couch was" and navigated down a steep slope to Forbidden Drive. We travelled on Forbidden Dive almost to Mt. Airy ave and then back up the slope and down a horse trail ending at the Walnut Lane Bridge. We made it back home in time for delicious hot crockpot bread with butter. We had worked up an appetite so we were ready to eat!
What a beautiful spider web: A snack at Lover's Leap Lover's Leap: Under Walnut Lane Bridge: Under Henry Ave Bridge: Mustachoed Mice:
The next day, after inspecting the map, I realized we could travel on the horsetrail..noted as the yellow trail on the map..to pass Walnut Lane to go to the Henry Avenue bridge. We hiked all the way there...Curtis was even barefoot the whole time! We even got to hang out at Lover's Leap! I told Curt the very abbreviated story of how that lookout point got it's name. Then we hiked all the way bsck. On our way down to the river to cool off and swim, we ran into some friends and stayed at the water for two hours. What fun! The river was so wild and full from all the rain that we couldn't even wa across to TeePee rock. Curtis was upset about that. I just didn't want to chance swimming across with him. I really need to take him for swim lessons. But he found enough to do on the shore until it was time to go. All total, we were in the woods for 5.5hours that day...what fun. I really find being in the woods energizes me. It brings me a calm center. It is almost like a coming home to me. What a wonderful end to a trying week.